cedric

The other day I went to the airport early to attempt to standby for an earlier flight as I had noticed a pattern of flight delays all day to my destination (YYC). The gate agent was unwilling to assist with processing standby or contact the help desk. There were open seats on the flight. My later flight ended up getting cancelled, and I was rebooked for two days later. I could have gotten out on the earlier flight that I had arrived in plenty of time for. It was extremely frustrating. And it wasn't a one-off - it's indicative of a pattern I've noticed in YYJ with Westjet.

Last year, Westjet replaced their employees at YYJ and several other airports with contract staff from Menzies.
It seems that they have deliberately limited the scope of these employees, and they have not received training on what should be basic tasks.
In general, a few things I've been surprised by over my past few flights:

• Agents unable or unwilling to troubleshoot a paid upgrade that wasn't working at the kiosk
• Agents unable or unwilling to process a same day standby
• Agents unable or unwilling to provide a meal voucher when due under APPR
• Agents unable to handle a rebooking due to flight cancellation

I've learned from one of the agents at YYJ that all of the above tasks must be done by contacting a help desk and cannot be done by the agents themselves. It seems that the contract agents don't like to call the help desk as they may end up on hold, so their default answer is "no, sorry". Actually, a number of them seem to have some attitude, and don't even bother with the "sorry".

It's a huge competitive disadvantage to Westjet. And this station even gets the basics wrong. I've been boarded onto an aircraft that wasn't ready to accept passengers yet. I've been delayed by 2 hours because of simple communication issues between the ground staff and ops staff. I've seen incoming passengers get locked out of the terminal. I've seen pilots get locked in the terminal. The list goes on. It really is like the Fawlty Towers of airline operations.

Are these shenanigans just happening in YYJ or is it a system-wide issue, outside the major hubs which are presumably still staffed by Westjet employees? And what can be done?

V1213

My local contract team (YQR) is generally good to deal with, although I haven't had too many situations that I've needed them to do something beyond the usual flow.

Based on the consistency and number of problems you've had I'd make a formal complaint here, especially in the circumstances where they're not provided advertised benefits (standby) or meeting APPR obligations.

tcook052

With an upcoming YYJ-YYC-YEG journey next week this news is troubling.

cedric

I suspect things will be fine if nothing outside of the norm happens/is required.
Otherwise, you're in for some fun.

FlyerJ

Was it within the rules of your fare/status? Or were you looking for an exception?

cedric

He didn't bother to check. It was a hard no.

smilee

I can tell you from experience that most agents in Victoria are just fine. However in Victoria I had a male agent who was horrible. I was running late ish and parked my car and by the time I got inside I realized I left my boarding pass. I went to the WestJet ticket counter and asked for a reprint as the kiosk wouldn't let me. Flight was leaving in 30 minutes. The male agent said he couldn't reprint my boarding pass and there was nothing he could do. He then said you missed your flight... Sorry. I laughed and said no really already checked in could he please just reprint the boarding pass so I could go through security. He said nope. Quickly left the airport and walked back to the car to get my boarding pass and then hurried back to the airport to go through security as boarding was about to start. Still managed to be one of the first to board but was shocked at his attitude and useless abilities. But not worried enough to file a complaint until I read this thread. I wonder if it was the same employee. My flight was last fall and every other interaction I have had with WS at YYJ has been great since but curious

Altaflyer

i have this on Monday….the late YYC flight is almost always late and sometimes mis-connects at YYC. Hoping for the best!

tcook052

Me too as it sounds like standing by for the earlier flight unlikely to work but suppose no harm in trying.